Getting LinkedIn: Streamlined Networking

- January 27, 2012

Digital Friday/People

Hello again, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing, where business takes shape. I have a question for you. Would you like to be able to connect to a network of 135,000,000 people? That’s what you can do with LinkedIn. Today we are going to be talking about that powerful digital social networking strategy. I’m a big fan of networking; I’ve talked about that before. LinkedIn, if used properly, can really connect you to the right kind of people. Today’s topic is “Getting LinkedIn: Streamlined Networking.”

Are you using LinkedIn right now? Are you using LinkedIn well? Perhaps it’s a tool that you felt obligated to join but you aren’t using it. However, LinkedIn is really something I want you to consider to enhance your networking skills.

Some of you probably aren’t members of LinkedIn and are wondering what it is. LinkedIn is the largest business social networking site out there. They’ve done a great job creating a tool for you to be able to easily network with people right in your own community and even all over the world.

LinkedIn includes information about people, where they went to school and where they work. You are able to see who they are linked to. It’s very powerful in that way, especially if you are just a couple of connections away from somebody you want to get a hold of. You can go to one person and that person can help you get to another person. That’s very cool.

LinkedIn also provides a place for recommendations. So if you’ve done work for somebody in the past, they can actually recommend you and provide a testimonial that other people can see that in fact people are vouching for you.

The most powerful feature is the ability to create a network. I now have almost 400 people in my network and I hope to build that even more. I hope you will find me, James Glover, on LinkedIn and say hello. Let’s get connected.

There’s another section in LinkedIn where you are able to give advice and become an expert. As you provide more advice, you are rated as an expert. This enables you to share your knowledge base with others and focus attention on your ability to solve problems. A powerful attribute in the networking world.

What do you have to do to get involved with LinkedIn? It’s very simple. First, go to LinkedIn.com. Then create a free membership. The price is great. Fill out the profile that includes a picture of you, your personal background information and work background information. Basically it’s like a personal and work-related resume all in one place. It’s a very good way to keep all that information all intact. LinkedIn allows you to profile your company as well. You can add a link to your company and build a story around it. You can actually start creating fans of your company. This is very exciting.

Perhaps the best feature about LinkedIn is the ability to start pulling in friends and connections that might be of value to you in the future. It could be colleagues that you have worked with in the past or alumni. I graduated from the University of California, Irvine with my MBA and I am now in touch with a lot of my fellow graduates through LinkedIn.

There's also a unique add connection feature called “People You May Know.” It creates a list of possible contacts for you to consider and you can begin sending requests to these individuals to be connected through LinkedIn to start building your network. Again, I’m up to almost 400. It is a very powerful tool and I think you should consider using LinkedIn to advance your networking efforts.

As you can see, LinkedIn is a great networking tool. And the price is right, as I’ve said. Wherever you are, if you haven’t signed up, do so. If you have and you haven’t really used it as a daily tool, I recommend that you do so. Spend the time to fill out your profile completely. Then begin building your network of business connections. These business connections may lead to all sorts of things. It can lead to you looking for a job or finding a project, perhaps hiring someone. There are all sorts of things that you can do with LinkedIn to benefit you and your businesses. Make it a priority.

That concludes Digital Friday. I hope you start using LinkedIn as a tool. Join us next week for another exciting five days of Once a Day Marketing blogs. As I said earlier, find me on Linked, James Glover with the Once a Day Marketing blog, and say hello and we’ll network.

I’ve been getting some inquires about working with me directly. My contact information is at the end of this blog. I’d love to help your company. If you feel you need a little more assistance than just a daily blog, perhaps we can arrange a one-on-one service engagement. I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing, where business takes shape, and we will see you next time.